Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | Film | August 25, 2026
Netflix’s The Dating App Killer is one of the worst movies I’ve ever watched. Even for Netflix. Even for Canada — why is a Canadian production even bothering with a movie about an American serial killer? When did Elisabeth Röhm — respectfully, the worst ADA in Law & Order history — start directing? Why is she directing this? What is the point of this story?
The Dating App Killer is actually subtitled The Monica White Story. And again, with all due respect, Monica White’s story is not that interesting. I completely understand the desire to center a victim’s story — rather than that of a real-life serial killer — but Monica White was not murdered by Anthony Robinson. Anthony Robinson killed four women and is suspected in the deaths of two others. None of them were Monica White.
According to Wikipedia, Monica White claimed to have dated Anthony Robinson a year before his capture. Best I can tell, Monica White played no role in his ultimate apprehension — the movie’s editing implies he was arrested right after she booted him out the door. I don’t mind dramatic liberties. What I do mind is that The Dating App Killer didn’t take enough of them. This is a movie that could have used far more drama, even if it were entirely fictional.
It’s badly directed, badly acted, and badly written. It’s here where I’d usually suggest the movie was written by ChatGPT, but honestly, ChatGPT would’ve done better work. Lifetime movies have more personality than this. A week-old eggplant has more personality than this. Elisabeth Röhm’s Law & Order character, Serena Southerlyn, has more personality than this, and if you remember her, you must remember wondering how L&O ever hired a synthetic human.
So Monica White was just a woman. A good Christian woman. She had a son about to leave for college. She was lonely, couldn’t find interesting men at church, and tried dating apps on a friend’s suggestion. She went on a date with Anthony Robinson. Robinson charmed her, slept with her, and then immediately tried to move in (he was homeless). She declined and sent him away. In the movie, she goes to bed that night and dreams Robinson violently confronts her — she pretends to want sex and ties him up. That’s easily the most dramatic moment in the film. But it’s a dream. It never happened. The movie then cuts to police knocking on her door to question her about Robinson. That didn’t happen either, because Robinson wasn’t captured until a year later.
Dating a serial killer is the kind of story you tell at parties. Sure, once Monica White realized who she’d gone out with, I’m sure it was traumatic. But that doesn’t make a movie. What I can’t explain is why anyone would voluntarily watch this — it’s been in the Netflix top 10 for a week, hit number one for a couple of days, which baffles me — I only watched it because it’s late August and there’s nothing else to cover, and even then, it took three attempts to get through because it is unwatchably, soul-crushingly tedious. Why do people who aren’t obligated by their jobs to do this force themselves to sit through boredom this relentless?
Has anyone else watched this movie? Can anyone explain its appeal?
